"So we need to take care of the cameras first."
"Exactly. You'll have a few seconds to do it."
"If Cameras are destroyed, won't the guards be alert then?" Clarisse asked.
"They will, but they won't hit the alarm. They'll most probably suspect a bug in the system. They'll come to check personally and won't be in big numbers. Much better than a beeping alarm," Jake replied.
As soon as Clarisse stepped foot on the floor, she sent her wind blades down the hallway, slicing all the cameras that were keeping an eye on the hallway.
Other than the cameras, the hallway was completely empty. There was not a single guard there since Ramian didn't like guards near his family.
Clarisse took a step forward, but Jake stopped her.
"What now?" Clarisse asked, glaring at him.
"There are motion detectors. Don't walk on the floor. Don't walk on the floor," Jake said.
"You seem to know an awful lot about this place for a person who claims to not know where the materials we need are," Clarisse let out, frowning.
"Focus on the goals. You'll have all the time in the world to think about such nonsense later," Jake reminded Clarisse as he brought a small metallic ball out of his pocket and placed it on the ground.
"What's that?" Clarisse asked.
"Just a small gift for the guests who might come up to check the floor now that cameras are gone," Jake answered.
"Whatever." Clarisse rolled her eyes.
She started floating in the air and flew with Jake towards the room on the other end of the hallway.
"This is the room. It would be locked from inside. You know what to do."
"I know." Clarisse took off her gloves and placed her hand on the door, which started deteriorating.
The door opened as the lock was destroyed. Clarisse and Jake stepped inside the room.
On another end, Lucifer and Salazar had just landed on the roof of the mansion as well. Instead of taking the long route from the main entrance, he chose to sneak inside with Zale.
"There is no door here? What poor security," Zale said, finding the door missing.
"Certainly intriguing," Lucifer muttered, frowning.
Just to be sure, he spread his Energy Negation around him.
"Stay within two meter range of me," he told Zale.
He didn't know if Julien's father was going to have the same ability as Julien, but if that was the case, he needed to take all the precautions he could, even though it took a heavy toll on his body to keep the energy negation maintained since his energy negation wasn't perfect.
He hadn't stolen energy negation from Yasmine like he usually had to do for most of his abilities. Instead, it came as a hidden surprise for him when he had killed the Warlock Council leader in the Divine Empire.
The man had temporarily stolen the powers of Yasmine and Arthur. However, as soon as Lucifer had killed the man, the temporary abilities he had stolen from the two started going back to the body of the original owners.
By the time Lucifer absorbed the last of the man's body, the powers of Arthur had completely left him, but a small fragment of Yasmine's ability was still in his body, going back slowly.
After Lucifer absorbed the body, the energy negation fragment formed a core of its own inside his body, but unlike Yasmine's core, it was much smaller and imperfect.
It gave him the powers of Yasmine, but because of the imperfections, it came with heavy energy costs to keep the barrier maintained. That was the reason he didn't always keep the barrier active.
That absorption also gave him some other abilities, including the dark wings, but for some reason, he couldn't use the ability which allowed the man to borrow the abilities of others.
Instead, he felt that his Parasite ability had gotten stronger and more efficient. He didn't understand the basics of it, but now he had a feeling why it happened after absorbing the abilities of Julien.
He believed that if there were abilities that conflicted with each other, there must also be abilities that complement each other.
That gave him a possible answer to the old question that was plaguing his mind regarding where the borrowing ability went.
According to him, it was taken by his parasitic control to make it stronger, just like he made his lightning stronger by sacrificing other abilities. The weaker ability was devoured by the stronger parasitic control.
"It's not my old body, so it might take an even heavier toll on me. We need to intercept Ramian faster."
He took his first step down the stairs.
As Lucifer reached the top floor, he noticed a small ball on the ground.
He had only noticed the ball when the ball started beeping repeatedly.
"A bomb?" Lucifer muttered, rolling his eyes. He cast his energy barrier around the small ball, trapping it.
Boom~
Within seconds, the ball exploded, filling the barrier with smoke.
"Certainly an interesting way to welcome guests," Lucifer let out, laughing.
"That thing... I've seen it before."
"You have?" Lucifer asked.
"Yeah, it was used in Elisium by the authorities. This isn't actually a bomb but a sleeping gas."
"Sleeping gas, hug. Quite similar to what Kane made for us. So that's where he got the idea from."
The guards also came up the stairs to check the cameras when they noticed Lucifer.
"You! Hands in the air!" They commanded Lucifer.
"As you say." Lucifer started raising his hand. At the same time, he removed his barrier from the wall and sent a gentle wind, which brought all the smoke to the guards.
"T-this..."
Taking in all the smoke, the guards started feeling weak. Before long, they all dropped to the ground, falling into a fast sleep.
"That was easy. Now, time to get to the guy."
He started walking to the first room; however, as soon as he took the first step, he stopped.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A loud alarm started echoing in the mansion.
"They certainly have an annoying security," Lucifer commended as he kicked open the first door, which was empty.
He kept kicking the doors, ignoring the alarm until he reached the last room.
"This..." He noticed the signs of decay on the door, which immediately made him understand who was here.
"Why would she be here?" he muttered as he pushed the door open.
"What?"
As soon as Lucifer opened the door, his expressions changed.
Even Zale felt slightly disgusted at what he saw.